Sunday, April 28, 2013

Friday, April 26, 2013

In the last couple of days I've been cutting, assembling, flocking and ... waiting for the latex to dry, but the result is very satisfying. So yesterday evening, without waiting for some details I want to add to the cloth, I decided to "throw some miniatures" on the table, and below is the result.

Part of a Russian Division is trying to cross a river at a bridge, but a small French Brigade with a Battery in support discovered the maneuver and deployed to avoid it. In the meantime, the zealous French Brigade Commander sent a message to the Emperor, who was waiting for a chance to crush the Russians thanks to his superior troops concentration. This seemed a good opportunity. Above, a Russian brigade that crossed at a ford several miles upstream is joining the fight. On the hill the deployed French brigade with the battery in the middle, firing against the crossing Russians.

Napoleon with is staff (in front of the Chapel of St. Ludwig) supervises the deployment of an entire Corps, marching to the sound of the guns.

A view from the Russian side of the river. Few buildings of the Village of Schaufferg will remain intact... French Voltigueurs and Russian Jaegers skirmish in front of a small pond.

Division Commander General Shumbalovskij confers with his subordinates, while battalion after battalion the Russian cross the small bridge near the Old Water mill. The view is not encouraging for the battalions commanders.. On the left, a Brigade of Grenadiers waits its turn to cross.

The skirmishing, seen from above. A single Russian battalion could deploy on the other side of the bridge, and they are now trying to push away some French Voltigueurs deployed behind a low stone wall.

The French columns arriving at the double quick on the Battlefield.

Two more Batteries coming at the gallop near a Vineyard (the infantry will have to stop and make room).

A closer view of the Emperor's Staff...

And - finally - a view from behind the Russian Brigade arriving on the Battlefield after fording the river some miles upstream. French skirmishers spotted the new threat.
I'm very happy with my new cloth. I have still to add some details near the rivers and between fields, but the overall feeling is very good. I have also to learn how to place the batting under the cloth and where to pull pins to avoid wrinkles. Ah, and I have also to ask a friend with a good camera to take pictures :)

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Several weeks ago, I was looking for some interesting batreps on TMP and I found this:http://www.flickr.com/photos/war_artisan/sets/72157632853690263/
I was astonished. For the first time I saw a realistic terrain, with rolling hills built in and without any visible artificial object on it. The pics were made by Jeffrey Knudsen, aka War Artisan. I avidly read the battle report (fantastic 10mm figures, by the way) and I discovered two more facts: 1) the rules used were "Napoleonic Command" written by the same person; 2) online there are also a couple of tutorials: one for making the cloth (http://www.flickr.com/photos/36331979@N00/3063199455/in/set-72157610259987470/) by elliottwjames and another - made by the War Artisan - that explains how he built the hills I liked so much (http://www.flickr.com/photos/war_artisan/4739815027/in/set-72157624371716442/).
Now, I have Napoleonic Command and I think it's one of the most innovative rules I've ever seen: in few pages, Jeffrey was able to include many of the game design concepts I really like (attrition, no markers, few modifiers , see my previous posts about these under Game Design) creating a fast moving, clean and elegant mechanism.
Unfortunately, Napoleonic Command is out of print, but Jeffrey will - sooner or later - publish a 2nd edition, as his notes say.
Back to the topic, I had to try and build one of this wonderful terrain cloths so I asked Jeffrey directly. He was so kind to answer, giving me some more hints and encouragement. My trip to Hellana Con last week was mainly to buy the flock needed, and a visit to a local hardware store gave me the rest.

I started friday afternoon and I am taking pics while I go on, so I will probably post the whole process soon (adding here and there some mistakes to be avoided). In the meantime, here is the starting point (a cotton cloth 200x140 cm. where I designed the roads and rivers with a marker):

And here is the result so far:

It's taking more than expected, but I'm slow and think twice before every step. I'm also trying not to mess the room up too much (this is a work better done in the garage, but I haven't one). Today (sunday) I should be able to finish about 60% of the cloth, if I have enough latex.
And this was all thanks to Jeffrey...

Sunday, April 14, 2013

A wonderful weather for a nice day as a normal visitor to Hellana 2013 Con in Agliana.
I met a lot of friends, sold something at the Bring & Buy, and found everything I was looking for. A very positive balance indeed. I took some pictures (some of the tables were really intriguing).

Friday, April 12, 2013

After a long time I will attend a Convention (Hellana 2013 in Agliana) as a visitor. After so many conventions where I demoed some of my games, this year I decided to take a break and have a table just in a couple of events. Therefore I will take along some old boxes of minis to sell at the Bring & Buy, and maybe try some games in the participation tables available.
I have to buy some flock for my next project, and hope to find a retailer who carries Woodland Scenics.
As usual, painted minis at good price are always a target for me, and finally... trees!

If I'll find nice trees at reasonable price, I'll buy a lot of them. I like the ones I make (you can see some of them in the picture above) but they require a lot of work.
Andrea will come with me, and we'll find many of our friends there (btw there will be a DBA Tournament during the Con). Maybe it will be an occasion to talk about future Big Battles here in Terni, as the one I organised in december last year.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

For those of you who will visit Salute 2013, there will be a 61-65 table in 40mm (!!) organized by Matt of Glenbrook Games, table GA 27. I hope to receive some pics of the Participation Game to post them here.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Empire (V Edition) was the game I started wargaming in 1986 when I was living in Milan.
About 1 year ago, I received a kind e-mail of congratulations for my Drums and Shakos Large Battles, and the name in the signature told me something... I checked in a shelf and found this....

Yes, it was that Jim Getz. I was - and still I am - honoured by the kind words he used, and a correspondence started. We exchanged and commented each other ideas, and now - after a year - we are still in contact, sharing our intuitions and projects.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Pushed by recent events, I decided to chage the schedule of my future releases.
First in line will be Drums & Tricornes, my new SYW ruleset, that uses a brand new Command & Control System. When D&T will be released by Ganesha Games, I plan to finish and release 100 Dice which is a hex-grid, dice pool fastplay game for different historical periods.

My notes about D&T date back to last year (march 2012) when I wrote about 50% of it but then I stopped due to "real" job taking over my time. In my terms, this is a Large Battle game where 2 Armies of several Brigades each fight on a 120 x 180 cm. table divided into 216 squares (each of 10 x 10 cm.). Above you can see a pic taken from the last test I made last saturday.